Posted by Adam on July 13, 2001, at 18:17:28
In reply to I may need help...., posted by Adam on July 13, 2001, at 7:14:58
I will also add they don't listen.
I do appreciate the fact that some folks at McLean agreed to look me over at a late hour. I went to them because I figured, in the remote case that selegiline was an issue, people with psychiatric expertise would know best. I now know why my last pdoc objected to my use of selegiline: People don't know about it. I have told two psychiatrists I did not know prior to the meeting I was taking selegiline, and the answer was "why?" I have to explain what it is, why I take it at the dose I do, etc.
An ER doc I saw a couple nights before literally did not know MAOIs from his ear. Had no idea what they were about. I told him, after I got my BP checked "well, I guess I can rule out hypertensive crisis," figuring he'd understand. He immediately frowned, raised his voice and said "whoah, WHOAH, now hold on. Where did you get 'hypertensive crisis' from, anyway?" So I said, calmly, "a person who takes a non-specific monoamine oxidase inhibitor has to be careful about what foods and drugs they ingest because some of them can cause dangerous reactions, including hypertensive crisis." After saying this, he looked at me, walked out of the room, came back with a book, flipped through it for about ten minutes while I sat there, raised his eyebrows when he got to the right page, closed the book, and then continued the conversation like the "hypertensive crisis" comment had never been made. That's Leominster Mass, around 12AM, Sunday July 8th. They can sue me all they like: It happened.
The upshot of that was I was sent away with the diagnosis of "low grade sinus infection, with possible canaliculitis causing the dizzyness." Please. PLEASE, I could do better than that. And I never said I had sinus pain. I said I had a funny sensation in my face that felt almost like sinus pressure but had none of the other symptoms of a sinus or airway infection.
At McLean, after sitting around for hours waiting for people, being steered towards a stress-induced somatization, despite my objections, I was sent out the door with the rcommendation I call my shrink, go to another ER, and take a Benedryl, which I was kindly handed on my way out. Benedryl? "What's this for?" I asked. "For the nasal congestion," was the response. I never said I had nasal congestion. Not once. Incredible. I knew it was bad out there, but I guess I had no idea.
poster:Adam
thread:69963
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/70051.html